Mother: Elder Suspected Bomber Found 'Religious Politics' Five Years Ago

The mother of the two brothers suspected of bombing the Boston Marathon said that the elder brother, who was killed in a Thursday evening shootout, had found radical Islam five years ago and that the FBI had been concerned about him because of the information he was receiving from extremist websites.

In an interview with Russia Today before Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger brother, was captured alive on Friday, Zubeidat Tsarnaev said the FBI “were scared of my oldest son,” Tamerlan, because “they always told me he’s a leader,” and they were “afraid of him because, you know, he is a leader, he talks about Islam a lot.”

She said her eldest son got involved in “religious politics” five years ago but insisted the sons were set up because they had never told her they were involved in jihad. Zubeidat also claimed the FBI would have had to know of Tamerlan’s motivations had he been radicalized.

The mother said the brothers would have told her if they had been planning to bomb the Boston Marathon. Because they did not, she reiterated that she felt they were set up by the FBI.

Though the mother seemed to be in a state of denial during the interview, she seems to have confirmed the radical Islamic ties of Tamerlan.